Govt will continue rice price control operation
Govt will continue rice price control operation
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Chapter of the National Logistics
Agency (Dolog Jaya) has said that the ongoing market operation
aimed at controlling the price of rice will continue until prices
returned to normal.
Councilor Abdulgani H. Abdullah, the chairman of the City
Council's Commission B on the economy, quoted Dolog Jaya chief
Arifin Hidayat as saying that the ongoing operation would last
until supply at the city markets remained stable without the
agency's help.
"The agency will stop the operation soon after prices in the
market return to normal," said Abdulgani, who along with other
members of Commission B and Dolog Jaya visited the Cipinang
Wholesale Market in East Jakarta on Tuesday.
During a two week market operation, begun on July 16, Dolog
Jaya has released around 500 tons of rice a day, or a total of
6,260 tons to the Cipinang Wholesale Market.
Abdulgani said Jakarta needs 2,000 to 3,000 tons of rice every
day, 1,800 tons of which are supplied through the Cipinang
Market.
Dolog Jaya is expecting 16,000 tons from South Sulawesi and
another 3,000 tons from West Java this month, which, in addition
to the present stock of 73,141 tons, will be adequate to meet the
demand of Jakartans for 46 days.
Demand for rice at the wholesale market remained high and the
price was still slightly higher for almost all types of rice than
the government ceiling price.
The consumer price of Dolog's normal quality rice at the
Cipinang market was Rp 725 (33 U.S. cents) per kilogram, up Rp 25
from last week, but none of the prices of other types of rice
exceeded Rp 1,000 as reported earlier.
Wholesaler Robianto of PT. Romerta, who has a yellow cloth
banner embossed with "Dolog Jaya Rice, Rp 710 per kilogram"
posted in front of his rice stall, said he bought Dolog's normal
quality rice at Rp 685 (32 U.S. cents) per kilogram and sold it
at Rp 710 to retailers.
Retailers then sold it at Rp 725 per kilogram to consumers.
Robianto said that he bought high quality rice directly from
farmers in Karawang, West Java's largest rice supplier, and from
another West Java rice producer in Cirebon for Rp 710 per
kilogram and sold it to retailers at Rp 780.
Declined
Iswadi, another rice wholesaler in the Cipinang market who
receives ten tons of rice from Dolog every day, said that
compared to last week, demand for rice from retailers had
declined by 30 percent this week.
To meet his clients' demand for high quality rice, Iswadi
bought it from producers in Karawang and Indramayu, West Java,
and Muncul and Pamanukan, East Java.
"I bought it (high quality rice) at Rp 800 and sold it at Rp
820, down Rp 30 from a week ago," he said, adding that he had,
until yesterday, sold rice from Indramayu at Rp 790, also down Rp
30 from its selling price four days ago.
When asked whether rice prices would increase again, Iswadi
said that it depended on how long the current drought continued.
Rice prices throughout the country have increased due to the
drought, forcing the National Logistics Agency to launch a market
operation to control the price of the food staple. (arf)